Stair covering construction



STAIR COVERING CONSTRUCTION Filed April 15. 1955 INVENTOR.

2,842,813 Ei'lTAlit C'G'VERTNG QQNSTRUCTKGN Leonard N. Van Fleet, iZos Angeles, tlalit. Application April 15, M53, Serial No. 349,935 3 (Ilaims. (Cl. 20- 79);

This invention relates to a floor covering construction and, more particularly, to a floor covering construction which utilizes a plastic type floor covering, such as magnesite. The invention is most applicable to floor portions of outside steps and balconies which have outside corners which must be covered and protected.

In present installations of such floor covering, it is customary to place a layer of paper in direct contact with the wood flooring, including the corners, and then secure a wire mesh over the paper. The magnesite or other suitable plastic material is then applied to the paper and wire by a trowel or in any other suitable manner such as spraying. Since the paper and wire are tied directly to the wood flooring in such installation, it is apparent that any movement of the wood will cause cracking of the magnesite or other coverings so applied, because uch materials have no appreciable elasticity. This cracking will result most frequently at corner locations in the construction, such as at the corner of a step or at the end of a balcony and, of course, such cracking is highly undesirable in outside constructions since the cracks will result in water leakage and give a very unsightly appearance to the floor covering. Even if such cracks are repaired, they will continue to open up and constant repairing will be required and, of course, any leakage through the cracks will cause considerable deterioration of the construction material under the floor surface.

The present invention overcomes the difficulties of prior construction and is capable of preventing cracking of plastic floor coverings, such as magnesite, when it is applied to. corners of outside flooring, regardless of the angle of the corner. The flooring construction of the present invention utilizes a felt pad or layer which is placed between the wood construction forming the corner of the flooring and the magnesite floor covering, in such manner as to prevent the usuai cracking which results from the warping of the wood flooring due to exposure to heat and from the normal shrinkage the wood. The floor covering positioned over the at the corner of the flooring is similar in construction to the covering of the other parts of the floor surface, and the felt pad is of such dimensions and so placed that it will protect only those floor areas where cracking will result from the causes previously mentioned. The invention is described in connection with magnesite flooring composition, and it will be understood that this composition is a mineral cement, including magncsite, tales, asbestos fibers and silica as the mineral in redients, and that it re-crystallized by a solution of magnesium chloride. Of course, other similar materials, which are suitable for floor construction, can be usedin connection with the present invention, and the invention is not limited to the use of magnesite. 7

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a floor covering construction which utilizes magnesite or other suitable materials which are particularly adapted to outside doors and which prevents the crack- 2&42313 Patented July 15, 1958 ing of the floor covering due to stresses developed in the wood flooring construction.

A further object of the subject invention is to provide a floor covering construction which is particularly adapted to the covering of corners, such as occur in steps and at the edge of outside balconies, and which prevents cracking of the floor covering at the corners.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a floor covering construction which utilizes a flexible, compressible pad to absorb the stresses developed in the wooden flooring, so that the floor covering material does not become damaged.

Another object of the invention is to provide a floor covering construction which utilizes a magnesite covering and which is provided with a padding at the corners of the floor which prevents cracking and other damage to the floor covering because of its flexibility.

These, and other objects of the invention not specifically set forth above, will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following specification and drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of an outside or inside stairway to which the floor covering of the present invention can be applied.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the stairway of Fig. 1, illustrating the manner in which the floor covering is applied to one of the steps of the stairway.

3 is a horizontal sectional view along line 33 of Pig. 2, illustrating the various layers comprising the floor construction at the corner of the step.

The embodiment of the present invention will be described in connection with a stairway such as illustrated in Fig. l. The step construction comprises the usual support members 4, to which are nailed the risers 5 and the treads 6. A skirting 7 can be positioned at the side or sides of the steps when the steps are located against a wall surface, and it will be noted that the tread 6 projects across the top of and beyond the riser 5, thus forming a right-angle corner with an overhanging or nosing portion. The manner in which the floor covering of this invention is applied to the corner of the step is illustrated in Fig. 2, wherein both the tread and riser are shown nailed to the support members 4 by nails 8.

It will be apparent that when this wooden floor construction is subjected to heat, the overhanging portion of the tread 6 between the end of the tread and the nail 8 will tend to warp, upwardly in the direction of the sun or other heat medium, and that the portion of the riser between the nail S and the upper end of the riser, will tend to warp outwardly for the same reasons. Thus, considerable stress will be placed on the floor covering passing around the corner of the step. Also, since the grain of the wood of both the tread and riser runs lengthwise across the step area, these members will tend to shrink away from the corner of the step as the wood dries out, thus causing additional stress on the covering at the corner of the step. With floor coverings in use before, the present invention, no change in construction was provided around the corner of the, step or othercorner surface, and these stresses developed at the corner will cause cracking of the floor covering together with all the undesirable results flowing therefrom.

The floor covering over the majority of the. step surfaces is illustrated on the lower tread surface of Fig. 3 and. comprises a layer Qt paper 9;, such as felt paper, which is first laid over the floor surface, and a layer of wire screen 10, metres one-inch mesh, lit-gauge galvanized wire, which is placed over the paper; both the wire and paper are nailed to the floor surface at the required intervals. The magnesite layer or covering 11 is then applied over the paper and wire by a trowel or in other suitable ways, such as spraying, and the usual thickness of the magnesite surface is approximately one-half inch.

Inorderto overcome the usual cracking which appears at points 12 and 13 in covering 11, when the prior constructions are utilized, a felt pad 14 is positioned around the corner of the step in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2, and extends past the first nail in both the tread and the riser. The felt, therefore, covers that area of the corner of the step in which the cracking stresses referred to above are developed. A felt constructed of cocoa fiber and jutc is suitable for this purpose but, of course, any type of felt padding can be used which has the proper resiliency.

In applying the floor covering to the corner of the step, the felt pad 14 is laid around the corner of the step and the paper 9 and wire are then laid over the tread and riser surfaces and the felt pad in the usual manner, except that the Wire is bent up into the corner formed by the riser and the overhang of the tread so that the normal resiliency of the wire will retain the felt, paper and wire in this position until the magnesite covering 11 is applied. The nails 15 are typical of the nails used to hold the wire to the wood floor, and a number of such nails are applied to the wire strands at the edge of the felt pad to help maintain the pad in position. After the pad 14, paper 9 and wire 10 have been so laid, the magnesite covering 11 is applied over the surface of the tread and the riser and around the corner of the step, and it will be noted that the thickness of the magnesite at the corner is reduced by an amount approximately equal to the thickness of the felt pad 14. This reduced thickness is not detrimental, since the extending portion of the tread will take up any vertical or horizontal forces.

The relationship of the various layers of floor covering at the corner of the step is illustrated in Fig. 3, wherein the magnesite covering 11 has been removed at the corner to illustrate the felt pad 14. The paper layer 9, the wire 10, and the magnesite covering 11, are shown applied in that order at the corner and over the remaining surface of the tread which is not covered by the felt pad 14. It will be noted that the magnesite layer can be rolled around exposed edges at the side of the step construction and can be placed between the step construction and skirting 7. Also, it will be obvious from Fig. 3 that the felt pad extends completely along the length of the step at the corner.

By utilizing the resiliency of the pad will absorb the movement of the over hanging end of the tread and of the upper end of the riser which results from Warping, so that the warping forces are not transmitted to the magnesite covering so as to cause cracking. Also, since the wire and nailed to the step construction over the area covered by corners with or Without overhanging portions. In certain cases, it may be desirable to extend the felt pad further back on the tread and further down on the riser, but it is desirable to have the felt pad extend felt pad of the present invention, the

viously be resorted to by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A covering for the tread and riser portion of a stair step, said tread and riser portion being constructed of wood subject to warping and shrinking and said tread overhanging said riser portion, comprising a pad of felt overlapping the corner of the stair step and extending from the front edge of the tread portion and the upper edge of said riser portion to substantially the first secured locations of each of said portions, a layer of sheet material positioned over the entire area of said tread and riser portion and covering said pad, a wire screen positioned over said sheet material and secured to said tread and riser portions for preventing movement of said pad with respect thereto, and a layer of rigid non-flexible plastic material covering said sheet material and wire screen, the thickness of said plastic layer covering the pad being reduced with respect to the thickness of the plastic layer covering the areas of the tread and riser portions not covered by the pad by an amount approximately equal to the thickness of said pad.

2. A floor covering construction for a wood floor having two separate members abutting to form an outside corner with an overhang, comprising a compressible pad positioned in contact with said floor around said corner, said pad extending to cover the location nearest the corner at which each member is supported, a layer of sheet material positioned over the floor area and over the pad, a metal mesh laid over said sheet material and secured to said floor, said mesh being bent around said overhang to hold said pad in position around said overhang, and a layer of inelastic cement material applied to said sheet material and mesh to form the surface of said construction, said pad being positioned to prevent cracking of the cement material at said corner upon warping and change in dimension of said members.

3. A floor covering construction for the step of a wooden stairway, comprising an upright riser and a horizontal tread attached to step support members, the upper end of said riser being adjacent the lower surface of said tread to form a step corner with an overhang portion, a felt pad overlapping said corner and extending to cover the portion of the step between the position nearest the corner at which both the riser and tread are attached to said support members, a layer of sheet material positioned over said riser and tread and covering said pad, a wire screen positioned over said sheet material and secured to said riser and tread for preventing movement of said pad with respect thereto, said wire screen being bent around said overhang portion to position said pad around said overhang portion, and a layer of magnesite cement covering said sheet material and wire screen to form the surface of said construction, said felt pad separating said magnesite cement from the end of said overhang portion, from the upper surface of said tread vertically above the upper end of said riser and from the upper surface of said riser in order to prevent cracking of said magnesite cement upon warping or change in dimension of either the riser or tread.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 971,819 Beale Oct. 4, 1910 1,999,127 Kastner Apr. 23, 1935 2,078,049 Benedict Apr. 20, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 239,647 Great Britain Sept. 17, 1925 

